'They said, `Are your parents here?' '' Ricky Jonaus recalled. 'I said, `Why do you want to speak to my parents?' But I knew. I said, 'Which of my brothers was it?' ''
Pierre Jonaus, 31, is a Marine corporal also serving in Iraq. He will return home for his brother's funeral. Services have not been scheduled, but it is expected that Jude Jonaus' body will arrive in the United States Tuesday.
Marckendy Jonaus, 22, left the U.S. Army after serving two tours in Iraq.
Gernessoit and Amenia Jonaus are immigrants from Haiti, who sent for Jonaus in 1992.
Jonaus dreamed of being a career soldier even as a student at North Miami Senior High, his family said. He joined the Army immediately after graduating in 1996.
'Ever since he was a little boy, he would say, `When I grow up, I want to be the chief,' '' his father said.
He was stationed at Fort Meade, Md., but asked for a transfer to Fort Stewart, to facilitate his deployment to Iraq.
He was sent to Baghdad seven months ago as a pharmacy technician, his family said.
He assured his family his job placed him far from the line of fire.
'When he left, one of my cousins said `Be careful,' and he answered, 'Man, I'm nowhere near danger. What am I going to do? Slip on a pill?' '' Ricky Jonaus remembered Thursday.
Jude Jonaus, who never married and had no children, was an avid athlete. In April, he placed sixth in a bench-press contest at Camp Taji, Iraq, when, weighing 176 pounds, he lifted 260 pounds, according to a camp powerlifting posting on the Internet.
A military photograph shows him playing soccer with a fellow soldier.
Jonaus was tightly woven into the fabric of his family: In July, his father, a Miami taxi operator, wrecked his cab.
He gave him $3,000 for a down payment on a new vehicle.
Jonaus helped Ricky with his tuition at Miami Dade College. He once sent Ricky and sister Sharen plane tickets to visit him in Maryland.
And he never forgot to acknowledge a sibling's birthday. On Monday, Jonaus marked Sharen's 17th birthday with a call home.
'He called my daughter to say `Happy Birthday' Monday because it was my daughter's birthday,'' Amenia Jonaus said.
''Hours later,'' Gernessoit Jonaus said, ``he was dead.''
While Jonaus' family has no hesitation with serving this country, several members expressed deep reservations about the wisdom of U.S. involvement in Iraq.
''I don't think that war was our business,'' his mother Amenia Jonaus said. ``Anything for this country, I'm all for it, but we have no business over there. I would help anybody who asks for it, but these people [in Iraq] don't want our help.''
In a sad twist, Sharen Jonaus, a junior at North Miami Senior, received an Army recruiting flier in the mail Thursday. ''I wanted to rip it up,'' the youngest member of the family said.
Inside, it read, ``Get more information and a free personalized dog tag.''
A set of dog tags -- Jonaus' -- is already on the way to the family.
Sgt. Jude Ralph Jonaus, 27, died Tuesday of head injuries when the device detonated near the vehicle.